1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the general art of data management, and to the particular field of authenticating data.
2. Discussion of the Related Art
Many schools and other institutions of learning are assigning more and more papers to be written by students. A paper not only increases a student's knowledge of a particular subject, it increases a student's research and expression skills. While often more difficult and time consuming to read and grade, many teachers are using papers as a major teaching tool.
However, with all students now being very proficient in using the Internet, as well as proficient in communicating with other students, a problem has arisen connected to the true authorship of the ideas and/or actual expression of those ideas presented in papers submitted by students. If a paper is not outright plagiarized, there has been many instances in which much of a paper is not really the student's own individual work. Much of the material in a paper may be taken from other sources, if not actually copied from such other sources.
However, it is extremely difficult for a teacher to determine that a paper submitted by a student as his or her own work is actually the individual work of that student. There have been many stories reported in newspapers and elsewhere of widespread plagiarism at various institutions.
Therefore, there is a need for a method for determining if a document submitted as an individual's own work is actually that individual's work, or if it has been substantially copied from another source.
While many academic institutions have honor codes that prohibit plagiarism and often require students to sign such codes and sign a document for each paper submitted that the submitted paper is his or her own work, such methods are not foolproof. An individual who plagiarizes may also be the type of individual who also would sign such a document even though it is not truthful.
Therefore, there is a need for a method to determine whether a document submitted as an individual's own work is actually that individual's work, or whether it has been substantially copied from another source, such a method that is more reliable than present methods that often rely on the individual's own honesty.
Many teachers and educators rely on their own judgement and their own knowledge in determining whether a student's work has been copied. This judgement is based on the teacher's knowledge of the student. While this is often quite effective, it may not be as efficient as possible if the teacher has many students, where the teacher may not know each student well enough to accurately make such a determination.
Therefore, there is a need for a method to determine whether a document submitted as an individual's own work is actually that individual's work, or whether it has been substantially copied from another source, such a method that is more reliable than relying on a teacher's knowledge of the student.
However, any method for checking an individual's work for plagiarism must not be overburdensome on a teacher who is already pressed for time. Such a method must also be easy to learn and perform. Otherwise, many teachers will not learn and/or use the method.
Therefore, there is a need for a method to determine whether a document submitted as an individual's own work is actually that individual's work, or whether it has been substantially copied from another source, such a method that is reliable yet is easy to learn and to use.
However, the consequences of determining that a document has been plagiarized are often so dire, such a determination should not be made without human intervention. That is, such a determination should only be finally made by the teacher. Any method used in reaching this conclusion should allow for human intervention before reaching a final conclusion.
Therefore, there is a need for a method to determine whether a document submitted as an individual's own work is actually that individual's work, or whether it has been substantially copied from another source, such a method that is reliable yet is not totally dependent on machines and provides for the possibility of a human making the final decision.